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Weekend results
Britain’s Great North Run half marathon: Tirunesh Dibaba won her half marathon debut, and London Marathon champ Wilson Kipsang won a close, thrilling race. Read the IAAF report.
At the GNR, oft-injured English runner Chris Thompson recorded 61:00 for sixth place and couldn’t be happier.
Philadelphia half marathon: titles went to Stanley Biwott (Paris marathon champ) and Sharon Cherop (Boston marathon champ). Read the IAAF report.
Strangely similar: oft-injured Anerican runner Dathan Ritzenhein ran 60:57 for third and was happy with the result.
USATF 5km championships: titles went to Ben True and Molly Huddle. Twelfth on each side went to Alan Webb and Toledo native Emma Kertesz. Yes, Emma, you did as well as Alan Webb; I don’t know if you should take that as a plus or a minus. Read the USATF report.
Great City Games: in a street competition staged as a preamble to the GNR, the US beat the UK in front of a crowd of about 20,000. Fields included studs such as Mo Farah, Bernard Lagat, Jason Richardson, and Wallace Spearmon. Read the IAAF report.
Giro di Castelbuono: the 100th running of the tough invite-only race saw Olympic medalist Tariku Bekele turn back Olympic steeple champ Ezekiel Kemboi, among others. Read the IAAF report.
Decastar: the last major in-stadium competition of the year were the multis in Takence, France. The decathlon went to Hans van Alphen and the heptathlon went to Lyudmila Yosypenko. Read the IAAF report.
Colleges
The week 2 regional cross country rankings are out.
Cool video of the day: ESPN’s Outside the Lines profiles Latipha Cross, who overcame homelessness and two bouts of cancer to earn a full track and field scholarship to Eastern Michigan University.
Also in Talance was a strong 5880 point performance from world javelin record holder and two-time Olympic gold medalist Barbora Špotáková. She now also holds the record for the furthest javelin throw ever in a heptathlon competition.